CNN's GUT CHECK | for April 22, 2014 | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

SCOTUS UPHOLDS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BAN …The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a Michigan law banning the use of racial criteria in college admissions, a key decision in an unfolding legal and political battle nationally over affirmative action. The justices found 6-2 that a lower court did not have the authority to set aside the measure approved in a 2006 referendum supported by 58% of voters. Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Breyer were in the majority; Sotomayor and Ginsburg dissented. – Bill Mears

JUSTICE KENNEDY: "This case is not about how the debate about racial preferences should be resolved. It is about who may resolve it.”

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: "For members of historically marginalized groups, which rely on the federal courts to protect their constitutional rights, the decision can hardly bolster hope for a vision of democracy that preserves for all the right to participate meaningfully and equally in self-government.”